Investment News

Former Axa NZ and Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) chief, Ralph Stewart, has embarked on a final round of capital-raising, seeking $2.25 million to help fund the country’s first variable annuity business, scheduled for launch this June. Under the offer, up to 45 wholesale investors can subscribe for parcels of 50,000 shares, at $1 per share,… [Read More…]

Most asset classes are “fairly priced to moderately expensive”, according to an analysis by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER). “… it is difficult to find broad asset class value opportunities in the current environment,” the NZIER report says. “European equities are the main exception”. NZIER also cautions against sovereign and “sovereign-like” bond… [Read More…]

Perennial will add to the resurgence of the Australian listed investment company (LIC) sector with the float of its Wealth Defender fund on the ASX next month. The Australian fund manager confirmed the listing last week after raising the A$50 million minimum in pre-float capital-raising – some of which came from New Zealand investors, according… [Read More…]

Investment beliefs, most of which are implicit, guide the behaviour of every investor. However, Mark Weaver, Melville Jessup Weaver (MJW) principal, explains how trustees can save a lot of trouble by explicitly documenting their beliefs   Establishing a set of investment beliefs often seems like a strange and unnecessary exercise at the outset. But time… [Read More…]

Renowned NZ equities manager Guy Eliffe, has resurfaced in a top institutional job just three months after being ditched by AMP Capital. Eliffe, made redundant this January by AMP Capital NZ after almost a decade heading the manager’s local equities team, joined the Accident Compensation Commission (ACC) as corporate governance manager investments last week. An… [Read More…]

Exiting AMP Capital NZ chief, Graham Law, is leaving the business after a torrid six years at the helm. In a statement released to clients last week, AMP Capital said Grant Hassell would assume Law’s managing director role as at April 30 in addition to current responsibilities as head of fixed income. Law’s departure follows… [Read More…]

Institutional investors are less prone than retail funds to market-distorting behavioural quirks, according to a new International Monetary Fund (IMF) report, which nonetheless recommends greater prudential oversight of the industry globally. The IMF report, titled ‘The asset management industry and financial stability’ study, published early this month, found institutional investors “appear to be less influenced… [Read More…]

After years of servicing Australia and New Zealand, successfully, with a fly-in/fly-out team, Northern Trust Asset Management has opened a three-person office in Melbourne under regional senior vice president for institutional business and strategy, Bert Rebelo, who will relocate from Hong Kong. Rebelo, who has been with Northern Trust for about 16 years and has… [Read More…]

Financial systems provider SS&C Technologies, which last December bought most of the business of DST International in Australia, has expanded its Australasian reach after signing up New Zealand firm Trustee Executors (TE) to its enterprise reporting and investment portal platform, Pages. A press statement announcing the deal said TE would use Pages “to automate the… [Read More…]

Niche Australian small-cap manager, TBF Investment Management, could appeal to New Zealand advisers willing “to go ‘off the beaten track’”, according to Thom Bentley, head of Remarkable Capital. Bentley, who represents TBF in NZ, said the group’s Small Cap Value Growth Fund would suit advisers “who are looking for exposure to Australian small caps which… [Read More…]